Decorative ribbon and bow



Nov. 10, 1970 R. M. SCHMIDT ETAL 3,539,431

DECORATIVE RIBBON AND BOW 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 2, 1966 I VE N TORS A 0 5? M SCH/mar fif/QNAADJI ZQUSKOZASK/ TTORNEYF Nov- 10, 1970 SHM|DT ET AL 3,539,431

DECORATIVE RIBBON AND BOW 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 2, 1966 IN VEN T( )RS A 0 65/? M 501mm" f/PA/akoi has/rams 2M 14/ firm/aw y;

United States Patent O 3,539,431 DECORATIVE RIBBON AND BOW Roger M. Schmidt, Minneapolis, and Bernard S. Truskolaski, St. Paul, Minn., assignors to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Ser. No. 531,204, Mar. 2,

1966. This application Aug. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 863,741 Int. Cl. D04d 7/10 U.S. Cl. 161-9 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure relates to lace-like ribbon materials made from sparsely distributed interconnected pliable filaments so that a major portion of the material is comprised of open spaces. A drawstring is trapped between the filaments along one edge of the ribbon material and a colorful solid fabric strip is afiixed to the other edge for added coloring and to increase the resilience of the material. A 'bow and method for making same with the ribbon materials are also disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of our copending application Ser. No. 531,204 filed Mar. 2, 1966, now abandoned.

This invention relates to ribbon material and to decorative bows made therefrom.

In particular, this invention relates to lace-like ribbon materials made from interconnected pliable filaments. The filaments are sparsely distributed so that a major portion of the material is comprised of open spaces. A specific construction of one form of such lace-like material is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,473,528 issued to Howard L. Hoover on June 21, 1949.

One type of bow, for which the lace-like ribbon materials are especially adapted, is made by trapping a drawstring between the filaments along one edge of the ribbon and tightly drawing said edge of the material together. The filaments along said edge are collapsed, and because a major portion of the ribbon consists of open spaces, said filaments are gathered into a small and unobstrusive knot. The outer edge of the ribbon is formed into undulations that are symmetrically arranged around the knot. The pliable filaments making up the intermediate portion of the ribbon are gradually brought together as the material is drawn from the outer edge into the knot at the inner edge and a smooth flaring appearance is achieved. The solid ribbon materials are not suitable for this bow arrangement as very little spacing is provided between the fibers and the material cannot be deformed sufficiently to smoothly draw one edge into a tight knot.

The above described bows of the lace-like material, although attractive as compared to a similar bow of the solid ribbon material, have met with only limited commercial success. The sparsely distributed pliable filaments of the available lace-type materials having a drawstring along one edge thereof, do not adequately resist the gathering force of the knot, and accordingly, the filaments at the outer edge are also partially collapsed. Furthermore, the sparsely distributed filaments of lace-like materials suitable for such bow construction do not carry adequate coloring to provide the bow with sufficient glamour or brilliance when compared With the various other bows made from brightly colored solid fabric ribbon materials.

Therefore, the described bows have heretofore been considered undesirably subdued or lifeless and accordingly have primarily been used as a complimentary or background element for more glamourous components such as a natural flower or the various bows made from solid fabric ribbon materials. We believe that for the first time we have provided a ribbon material having all of the desired qualities of the lace-type materials in making the above described bow, but which is a substantial improvement in providing the heretofore absent glamorous or brilliant appearance.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a colorful solid fabric strip is affixed to the outer edge of the ribbon for added coloring and to increase the resilience and thereby resist collapsing of the filaments when the inner edge is formed into a knot. The undulations at the outer edge are more fully formed and have greater substance and produce a more commanding overall appearance. We believe that no one has heretofore provided a lace-type material as the above described bow of this invention with a drawstring at the inner edge for collapsing the flimsy fibers into a tight knot, and with means for reinforcing the outer edge to resist collapsing thereof and for enabling the formation of a fully flared decorative and ornamental bow construction.

Other advantages of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a lace-like ribbon material illustrating one form of the invention,

FIG. 2 illustrates a decorative bow made from the ribbon shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 illustrates an intermediate or prefabricated form of a bow such as shown in FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 illustrates in outline a bottom view of the prefabricated form of the bow shown in FIG. 3, showing the ribbon holding means in full lines.

In the drawing, a lace-type webbing 10 is formed of plastic self-bonding filaments 12. The filaments are assembled into a desired configuration with substantial open areas. A drawstring 14 is trapped within the webbing at one edge thereof, and a narrow strip 16 of colored solid fabric material is bonded to the successive filaments of the webbing continuously along the opposite edge.

The preferred bow of FIG. 2 is formed from a ribbon material as shown in FIG. 1, having an approximate length of 2 to 3 feet and an approximate width of 3 to 4 inches. Essentially, the bow is formed with the aid of the drawstring by gathering the edge of the webbing into a tight knot on a small portion of the string. This can be satisfactorily accomplished by merely bringing the ends of the drawstring together and pushing the ribbon material from the ends to the center of the string. However, the procedure that we prefer to follow, is to first double the ribbon material, and then while holding the drawstring tightly in one hand, to gather the doubled material in increments onto a small portion of the drawstring with the other hand, in the form of the corrugated bellows of an accordian. While held in this gathered position, a holding card 20 is attached to the string by forcing the string through a slit 22 in the card. The card is pushed up tightly against the gathered ribbon material and the string is pressed against an adhesive 24 coated on the back of the card. The ribbon material is thus held in its folded and gathered position such as shown in FIG. 3. The completed bow is then formed by separating the double material and adjusting the serpentine undulations of the material around the knot 26 and into a pleasing and symmetrically uniform flower-like pattern. The adhesive on the back of the card can be then utilized for afiixing the bow to a package or the like.

The intermediate or prefabricated condition of the bow as shown in FIG. 3 is compact and has increased strength because of the double corrugated folds. It can therefore be stored or shipped with a minimum of space and without injury to the material. Thus it is an advantage of the preferred bow construction that the prefabs can be made by the manufacturer and economically stored and then shipped to the retailer. The completed bow can thereafter be easily formed from the prefab in the manner described above. A protective liner 28 is placed over the adhesive until such time as it is desired to afiix the bow to a package or the like.

In a specific example of the invention, presented herein to illustrate the invention and not to limit it, a webbing was constructed (in accordance with the aforesaid Hoover US. Pat. No. 2,473,528) by forcing a solution of a cellulose derivative, such as cellulose acetate, through three spinnerettes, each containing a large number of minute orifices. The plasticized filaments formed by the spinnerettes were deposited in an overlapping relationship, encompassing a width of about 3 /2 inches, onto a moving belt having a suitable release surface. One of the spinnerettes was spaced from the others and a distinctly colored drawstring (of a material that is non-adherent to the plasticized fibers, e.g. nylon) was introduced into the webbing near one edge thereof between the separated spinnerette stations. Upon drying, the self-bonding filaments formed a unified open weave lace-type webbing with the drawstring trapped within the webbing thereof. A solid fabric ribbon about inch wide, constructed of Sasheen brand decorative ribbon material available from the 3M Company, was solvent bonded to substantially each of the successive filaments continuously along the opposite edge of the web.

It will be understood that the invention is subject to numerous variations, as for example, the webbing can be formed from any of a number of different elements in any of a number of varying configurations. However, suflicient open areas should be provided in the webbing to form a suitable lace-type ribbon material and so as to permit the above gathering of the filaments into a small knot. Also other means are contemplated for providing the reinforcement of the outer edge. For example, the fibers may be coated or otherwise treated for increased stiffness. Also, although one strip can provide the desired reinforcing brilliance to the outer edge of the ribbon, additional colorful strips may be added. The strips may of course be applied to the webbing by any number of different bonding methods such as heat bonding, adhesive bonding, etc.

Thus, the scope of the invention is not limited to any of the heretofore described embodiments, but is determined from the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A decorative ribbon material comprising an open lace-type webbing formed of interconnected pliable filaments, said filaments being sparsely distributed so that a major portion of the ribbon material is comprised of open spaces, a drawstring trapped among the filaments along one edge of the webbing, and means reinforcing the filaments at least at the outer edge for said outer edge to resist collapsing upon a gathering of the inner edge onto a small portion of the drawstring.

2. A decorative ribbon material as defined in claim 1 wherein said means comprises a brightly colored narrow strip of solid fabric ribbon material bonded continuously along the outer edge of the webbing to provide reinforcing brilliance to the webbing.

4 3. A decorative ribbon material as defined in claim 1 having a width of about 2 to 5 inches and wherein the narrow strip is about /2 to 1 inch in width.

4. A prefabricated bow that is compact and durable for improved storing and shipping and which can be easily converted into an attractive decorative bow, said prefabricated bow constructed from the material of claim 1 wherein a length of said material is doubled and formed into corrugated accordian-like folds with said drawstring pulled tight to collapse the corresponding edge of the ribbon and draw the filaments along said edge into a tight knot.

5. A prefabricated bow as defined in claim 4 including a holding card having an opening through which the drawstring is passed and which restricts passage of the webbing, said card being abutted against the tight knot with the string afiixed to the card to prevent withdrawal and thereby securely maintain the knot.

6. A decorative bow constructed from a length of the ribbon material of claim 1 wherein the edge of the webbing having the drawstring trapped therein is gathered on a small portion of the string to thereby collapse the filaments into a small knot, means for holding the gathered filaments on said small portion of the string to maintain said small knot, said other edge being formed into smooth serpentine undulations flaring outwardly from the knot and arranged in a pleasing flower-like pattern.

7. A decorative bow as defined in claim 6 wherein a length of the decorative ribbon forming the bow is about 2 to 3 feet and the width thereof is about 2 to 5 inches, said resilient strip being a solid decorative-ribbon having a color compatible with the color of the webbing and having a width of about A to 1 inch, and said holding means comprising a holding card habing an opening through which the drawstring is passed and which restricts passage of the webbing, said card being abutted against the tight knot with the string affixed to the card to prevent withdrawal, and the backside of the card being coated with an adhesive for attaching the bow to packages and the like.

8. A process for forming a prefab for a decorative bow from a length of the material defined in claim 1 which includes doubling the ribbon material, gathering the doubled material in increments onto a small portion of the drawstring into the form of corrugated accordianlike folds, and thereby collapsing the filaments along the edge of the drawstrnig into a small and unobtrusive knot, and applying a means for holding said gathered filaments for securing said small knot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,849,821 9/1958 Doig l61l0 2,473,528 6/1949 Hoover 16172 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,026,687 2/1953 France.

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner R. O. LINKER, 3a., Assistant Examiner US. Cl, X.R. 223-46 

